Screen Legend Omar Sharif Dies Aged 83

The star of 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Dr Zhivago' suffered a heart attack at a Cairo hospital on Friday.

Omar Sharif, the Egyptian-born actor who rose to global fame following his role in Lawrence of Arabia, has died in Cairo at the age of 83.

Omar Sharif conquered the movie world in the 1960s

David Lean's 1962 epic was Sharif's first English-language film. His role as Sherif Ali won him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor (he lost out to Ed Begley for Sweet Bird of Youth).

Three years later, Sharif took the title role in Lean's classic Dr Zhivago, starring alongside Julie Christie and winning his third Golden Globe.

As well as a film career spanning seven decades, Sharif also became known as one of the world's best bridge players, reports The Telegraph. He is thought to have lost a $6million villa on the Spanish island of Lanzarote in a bridge game in the 1970s, and once said he was "always one film behind my debts."

In May, the actor's son Tarek El-Sharif told a Spanish newspaper his father had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. At the time, Tarek said, "It's obvious he'll never improve and it will get worse. He still knows he's a famous actor. The loss of memory affects, above all, specific things - details like when he was in a specific place or who he acted with in a specific film.

"He remembers, for example, that it was Doctor Zhivago but he's forgotten when it was filmed."